House of the Rising Sun
by Aubreys-Master
Summary: [AUSongfic House of the Rising Sun]When Haru has to go drag his father out of a game of poker, in a local New Orleans whorehouse, he finds himself a lot deepr in than he'd ever expected.
1. The House

Disclaimer: Don't own it. This was made for fun, not profit.

**House of the Rising Sun**

**Chapter 1: The House**

It was Smokey. Smokey and the lights weren't very bright. Those stupid sequins that all the woman in the place seemed to be wearing would occasionally get struck by a beam of light and flash helplessly through the cigarette smoke. There were some various clinks of glasses, voices and laughter of various men, the soft click of beads and high heels on the wooden floor. Then of course, there was the soft bargaining of prices. Sounds like a nice place, huh? Can you guess where you are?

"Why on earth would we accept another bet from you?" A man with brown hair and a cigarette dangling from his mouth asked the other man across the table from him. "You're already in more debt than we have dishes for you to wash." It was hard to hear his soft tone over the bustle and music in the place, but he was confidant that the other man could hear him.

His companion had to pause and think about that. "My luck is turning around?" He offered with a self-assured grin. "I'm sure to win it all back this time?" That was probably a lie. But if all else failed he really could try to cheat. "Or I could ante up something that'll pay off all my debts, plus whatever I lose if I don't win now?" Sons sell for what, a good 6,000 dollars on the black market?

"What's this amazing collateral of yours?" The first wanted to know. He supposed he could just give the guy a job, until he worked it off. That would take a while, though. And, really, he preferred to get his earnings upfront. His business made great money, but it wouldn't if people refused to pay their debts.

"Ah, you can have my son?" Mr. Debt's sweat dropped. "Or my wife or both, whichever you prefer." What a loving father and husband, huh?

The man paused to think about that, and took a drag from his cigarette. "How old's the kid?" He wanted to know then. He had no use for children. A healthy teenager, though, he could put to work. "And his medical history. Is he sick?"

"He's about nineteen." The father shrugged. He was fairly certain about that at least.

The man opened his mouth to reply, but before he could get anything out, a sharp call from the doorway interrupted them. "Dad!" A boy with black and white hair addressed the second man in an annoyed tone. "Mom says you need to come home before you loose the house." He sighed, and added under his breath, "Again."

"Oh hey. Good you're here. Actually, it wasn't the house this time." His father assured him.

"Dad," The boy half groaned, leaning against the table, and trying to ignore the appraising look that the man across from his father was giving him. "C'mon, just come home?"

"But, I was just betting you! If I win I clean out my debt." He grinned.

"Oh, was that all?" The boy rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Pardon me, I thought it was something important." He added, before pulling his father to his feet. "Sorry about him." He added to the man across the table, which was still watching them, obviously just as annoyed as Haru was.

"Your father owes me a great deal of money." He informed the boy simply.

"We'll work it out." The boy replied, ushering his father toward the door. The guy finally went ahead and left. Though he was already pretty sure he'd be back. He still had to win off that debt after all.

"Why were you back there," The boy asked him, once they were out. "Betting your offspring?"

"I was out of money?" His father suggested, feeling in his pockets for a cigarette.

"That doesn't explain why you were there gambling, to begin with."

"Gamble to win?" He mumbled around the stick once he had it.

"But, you ALWAYS loose!" The boy pointed out, looking at his father like he'd just sprouted wings and started to fly around.

"Well I can't very well win if I don't ever even try." The man retorted.

"But, that doesn't mean you go anteing up family members!"

"You're right, I probably could have just gone with the house again." He nodded. "Really, you and your mother worry about money and such far too much." He finally added with a wry grin.

"We live in New Orleans! We can't survive here, without money." He pointed out. "Our house is STILL on a mortgage after you bet it the last time."

His father coughed discretely. "And that's why your mother keeps her money separate from mine. It's not my fault the house is still technically mine to bet."

"You should be locked up." His son decided. "In a nut house, not in jail."

"Aww, Haru. Thank you for being so concerned about my mental health." The man snorted. "I appreciate it, and I love you too. But I don't think that's necessary."

"Who said anything about your mental health being what I'm concerned about?" The boy, Haru, asked dryly. "It's my physical health I'm worried about."

"You're not starving yet are you?"

"You were going to sell me to a whorehouse!" Haru felt the distinct urge to smack his father, but he didn't push it. "I don't think starvation would be the highest threat to my health, thanks."

"I was pretty sure I was going to win that time." His father shrugged, taking a long drag on his cigarette.

"Just like you were pretty sure with all the other games you've played?"

"Nnn, exactly." He agreed.

"Mom's going to hit you." He stated. "A lot."

"She will not." He looked at his son dryly. "I'm going to hug her as soon as I get home and butter her up. She'll only make me sleep on the couch for a week."

"She should hit you," He pouted a little. "I might hit you."

"Don't hit your father, Haru." The man snorted. "Come on, let's just go home since you already ruined my fun."

"Yeah." He agreed. They'd need to find a way to pay the whorehouse off, **again**.

"Akitooo, dear!" True to his word he crooned and went to hunt down his wife as to avoid being smacked.

"You're late." Came the reply from the kitchen. "Again."

"I'm sorry my dear." He scuttled over to hug her. "Better late than never?"

"Where were you?" She wanted to know. "You weren't gambling again, were you?"

"Of course I was." He made sure to get her arms secured before kissing her cheek. There really was no point in lying to her.

"How much money do we owe who?" She cut to the chase. She already knew he'd lost. "Shigure, if you make us go bankrupt AGAIN, I SWEAR—" She cut herself off, and let her threat hang.

"Nnn, maybe about 300?" Shigure guessed. "And if Haru would have just let me bet him, we wouldn't have any right now."

"You wanted to bet him?" She echoed, sounding disgusted. Her husband had officially sunk to a new low.

"He's worth a good 3,000 dollars, dear."

"But he's your SON." She stated slowly. "Flesh and blood, offspring. You don't bet your offspring."

"No worries. I didn't get to bet him." He assured his wife.

"You're still an idiot, and a jerk."

"You married me anyways?" Shigure wondered.

"The church seems to think so," She confirmed with a small nod.

"Aww," He rested his chin sadly on her shoulder. "Come on now, don't be like that."

"You tried to gamble our SON!" She reminded him. "You, sir, should start reacquainting yourself with the couch. Unless you bet and lost that too, in which case, the floor."

Shigure sighed. "Yes, dear."

"Three hundred?" She wanted to make sure. They could pay back three hundred dollars hopefully.

"Yes, Haru found me before I got to have too much fun." He sighed again. "I'll go take the money if you want?" He offered slyly.

"No." She glared at him sharply. "Hatsuharu can. He's not stupid, and won't spend any more."

"Fine, fine." He finally had to give in.

"Good," She nodded, before going to get the money, and taking it to Haru. The boy sighed, and grumbled, but he did go to do it anyway. It wasn't like he had much of a choice.

If it meant anything, the owner was very happy to be getting his money. He even offered the kid a nice deal.

"If you agree to try keeping your father out of here. I'm willing to let you pick out one of my employees to play with." He murmured around a cigarette.

Haru looked like he was considering it carefully. "Would this be a permanent arrangement, or just a one time thing?" Either way he would agree to keep his dad out. But that was mostly because he didn't feel like being poverty stricken.

"One time." The guy elaborated. "But, if you do a good job of keeping that idiot out of here, I might soften up a bit and give you a few more." Might was the key word there.

"We can't afford to let him in here again, anyway," Haru assured him. "He won't be back."

"Not being able to afford it has never stopped him before." The owner snorted. "Either way, you've been a good boy today, and good deeds usually deserve rewards." Eheh, again, usually was the key word.

"So, I can pick any of them?" He wanted to make sure, glancing around the dimly lit room at all the barely dressed women walking around.

"Yeah, then I'll tell 'em the deal and you can go right ahead."

"Hmmm," He looked around the room more carefully, and pointed to a red head a few tables away. He could barely see through the relatively thick haze, but she looked cute from behind and appeared to be the youngest in the room. "That one." He confirmed her, with a small nod. The owner smirked for a moment before going over to get her. He talked to her for a moment before she glanced back at Haru with softly coaled eyes. She hopped down from her chair and took a moment to pull at her ridiculously short shorts before coming over. That's when one would be forced to notice she wasn't a she at all. "Er, shit." Haru muttered, blinking quite helplessly. He really hadn't meant to do that.

He laughed internally at the kid, but the whore really just smiled seductively at him. "Ready, kiddo?"

"What? But, you're not," He spluttered a bit. He'd started to say, 'you're not a girl', but it occurred to him half way through that the red head whore already knew that. "Serious...?" He finished finally, blushing a bit and tossing a bit of a panicked look at Hatori. He really hadn't meant to pick a guy. Really.

"Uh-huh," The red head purred softly before coming over and pressing up against him suggestively. He knew Hatori wasn't going to save the kid. The owner had a funny sense of humor. So, the slut wrapped his arms around his neck and breathed in his ear. "Only if you want to though, of course."

Rin was going to slaughter him, if she ever found out. Not to mention his mother.

"What the hell?" He sighed in relented, after a minute or two. First time for everything, right?

"That's the spirit." The shorter hooker chuckled, placing a teasing kiss on his jaw, before leading him off to where they could play.

"Uh," Haru started, once they got up there. "Look, this is my first time with a—" He cut himself off, and frowned, as he tried to think of a way that wouldn't be insulting.

He was ignored for a moment while the whore took off a few pieces of jewelry, then he turned around and gentle pushed him onto the bed, and then crawled onto him.

"I can take care of it. Just enjoy." The red head commanded. "Hatori doesn't give out free fucks very often."

"I figured as much." He admitted with a small nod. He wasn't sure why he was freaking out, actually. Seriously, he'd done guys; he'd even done hookers, at one point. Was it maybe the fact that it was a guy hooker that was unnerving him? Maybe? Not that it really mattered.

And the red head took care of it very nicely at that. He'd apparently been a whore for a little while. Either way, when he was done he gave Haru one last little kiss before grabbing his clothes and heading out.

"Had fun, gotta go." He chuckled.

"Oh?" He blinked after him lazily from the bed. "Too bad." He admitted quietly.

"Come back with money." The slut called his final suggestion before shutting the door carefully behind himself and going to clean up quickly so he could head back downstairs to pick up more customers.

Yeah, money--as if he could get money for a hooker. That would be the day. Maybe Hatori would give him another free go. That would be nice.

When Haru was on his way out the little red headed slut winked at him and blew a teasing kiss over in his direction. What could he say? That kid had been a fun fuck!

Haru just blushed again, and waved a little. He would really need to get more money now. That had been most enjoyable.

The whore licked his lips and went over to pester his owner. "Oooh, is he gonna come back?" he wondered, hanging adorably on Hatori.

"Who?" Hatori blinked at him in slight confusion, stuffing the wad of money he'd been counting into his pocket.

"That kid I just did." He purred.

"Oh. Him." Hatori shrugged a bit. "Maybe. If he wants to."

"Nnn, He's hot!" The red head all but drooled. "You love me just that much, if he comes back and keeps his bargain you'll let him have another go, won't you?" He begged, nuzzling against the older man just a little. Hatori was a pushover sometimes. He just hoped he was in the mood to have his buttons pushed.

"If he does, and if his father doesn't." He sighed. "Maybe."

"I'd almost pay to do that kid again." The slut grinned before pecking Hatori on the cheek and going to find someone else to screw. Whores are so fickle! Hatori just shook his head, and got back to his business of whorehouse running.

Haru, meanwhile, was trying to think of ways to get money to hire Kyo again, as he worked his way down the street, back toward his house. Well, if he went back he'd probably just get one. Since between himself and his mother than managed to keep Shigure at home. Shigure hated it and wanted to go out and waste all his money. But he was not allowed.

"Hey, Mom." Haru addressed his mother a little over a week later. He wanted to go see that whore again. "Can I borrow a little money?"

"Maybe. Why." She answered idly as she pushed some pins into what she was currently sowing.

"Well, there's someone I want to see but I need money to do that." He replied slowly. Maybe if he phrased this right, she wouldn't figure it out, and would just hand it over.

"You know, you can just tell me if you need money to take Rin on a date." His mother assumed, rolling her eyes.

Well, that wasn't exactly true, but:

"Mom, I need money to take Rin on a date." He lied smoothly, with a small grin. Lying wasn't so hard; he might not even get caught.

"Mmm, all right. But you owe me some help around here for it." Akito conditioned.

"Sure." he agreed readily. "I'll need about two hundred."

His mother gave him a dry look. "Well, that's less than what your father asks for. She better enjoy herself." She threatened with a sigh. Her men had no concept of money!

"Oh, I'm sure she will." She just wouldn't know she enjoyed it. He just hoped his mother never asked her about it. Akito quickly finished what she was doing and then got up to dig out the small stash of money she kept in the house. Okay, maybe it wasn't that small. But she returned with the money and gave it to her son. "Thanks," He smiled gratefully at her, and pecked her on the cheek. Who knew? Maybe Hatori would be nice, and he really could take Rin out with the money? "I'll bring back whatever's left over." He added.

"All right." Akito wasn't all THAT fond of Rin, but her son liked her well enough, so for right now she put up with the girl. "You have fun too." Then she returned to her work.

"I will." He meant that, too. Oh, yes. No matter how he spent this money, he would most certainly enjoy himself. He waited a little under an hour, before stashing the money in his pocket and heading out. Maybe the red headed whore would be free again. And free of charge, that would be nice.

Hatori wasn't around, but Kyo, the whore was; not that Haru knew his name. He wasn't busy currently but he certainly was on the prowl for a customer.

Well, Haru went in, and looked around, just in case he was there and, sure enough, there he was. The red head grinned when he spotted the kid and came slinking over to him. He was going to put the moves on him before the girls got a chance!

"Hey, you did come back." He crooned in a sultry tone.

"Ah, uh-huh." He nodded, trying not to blush like an idiot this time. "And, you'll note, my father hasn't." He added, indirectly trying to get another free one, without actually asking for it.

Kyo's smile widened. "Hatori's busy right now. But, if you have the money, I'll take it and once I find him I can see about getting it back to you?" He moved forward a little and hung on Haru shamelessly. If he were lucky the boy would really want to screw.

"How much do you charge?" He asked carefully. If he were lucky, he would still have some to take back home. The slut moved his thigh to a more strategic location as he whispered his prices softly in his ear. It was all part of the job to know how to convince strangers to pay money to do him!

Well, damn. Haru frowned a little. Thanks to his father, they really couldn't afford this and, yet, he was doing it anyway.

"Deal." He agreed with a tiny sigh.

"Well then, come on." The shorter beckoned him and they headed upstairs to find an unoccupied room. Haru just nodded, feeling guilty. He really shouldn't be doing this.

"Just the one-hour." He informed the hooker, upon finding one. "I kinda need to go somewhere before too long." And, he'd need money to do that.

"Hatori would kill me if I gave you somethin free without asking first." The whore assured him as he started to remove extraneous outwear from the both of them.

"One hour." He repeated, not replying to that, and just putting the money on the table then. Kyo snorted once he was satisfied with the lack of clothes and just urged the younger boy onto the bed.

"Right, one hour, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it." He cooed softly before really getting started, leaving Haru no chance to answer this time. Well, they did finish within the hour, a little early, even. That made Haru feel a bit better. He really could take Rin on that date, now.

The little harlot gave him a teasing look once he was dressed. "I'll see about talking to Hatori." He promised, even though he wasn't making any guarantees on where that money would be going. Anyways, then he left Haru to get a shower.


	2. The Owner

Disclaimer: Don't own it. This was made for fun, not profit.

**House of the Rising Sun**

**Chapter 2: The Owner**

Haru cleaned up as much as he could right there, and then got dressed again, and headed out of the building as quickly as he could. It really would be best if he actually saw Rin that day. That way, if his mother asked her, she would get a real answer.

And he still wouldn't have gotten caught.

For what it was worth, the dark haired girl was happy. Even if her boyfriend had just been with a whore and she didn't know about. Not just any whore either, mind you, a man whore.

Well, as long as Rin was happy. And, Haru felt like she should be, by the end. He'd spent the better part of that left over money on her, after all. It wasn't exactly a small amount of cash.

His mother, on the other hand was impressed he'd spent that much money. Okay, impressed isn't the word.

"Well, you handed that much to me." He reminded her, trying to calm her down. "I'm nineteen, you should know better than to hand your nineteen year old son two hundred dollars and expect much back." Well, that was his excuse, anyway.

Akito took a deep breath. "At least something came back." She consoled herself. Her son was already more responsible than her husband.

Yeah, there must have been a whole ten dollars.

"And, I did keep my promise and bring back the change." He pointed out. "What can I say? Rin has high standards."

She reached up and ruffled his hair gently. "At least she's classy and not a whore." That had been her original impression of the girl.

Haru sweat dropped a little. Good lord the irony. "No--no, she's not a whore." Nope, not Rin. Just the red head he'd been sleeping with.

"I hope you both had fun." Akito finally sighed and returned to her kitchen. "But don't make it a habit." There is always too much of a good thing.

"Oh, I won't." Maybe Hatori would give his money back, though. That was another whole hour funded right there.

The slut was getting right on that. He slinked carefully into Hatori's office and perched on the edge of his desk.

"Haaaatori." He cooed, he was wondering what kind of mood the man was in right now. You know, before he asked to just throw a hundred dollars out the window.

"Hm?" He blinked up from the papers he was going through, and took his (apparently ever present) cigarette out of his mouth, so that he could speak more clearly. "Oh. Yes?"

"Came to ask if you were gonna throw the Sohma kid a bone or not." The red head purred softly.

"He came back again?" Hatori raised an eyebrow, and placed his cigarette back in place. He honestly hadn't thought he would. "How long was he here?"

"An hour." Kyo chuckled softly; remembering how the kid had been about making sure it was only an hour.

"Did he actually pay you?" His boss wanted to know.

"No, Hatori." The younger man told him rolling his eyes. "Yes, he paid me!"

"Eh, if he comes back, and he keeps his dad out, you can give it back." He shrugged. "Hold onto it, if you intend to, though." The red head smiled, leaning over and kissing his cheek before swaying off back out to the main room. He hoped to convince the kid to just give him the money right back. "Kyo," Hatori called after him. "Keep tonight open."

The whore grinned and turned. "Kay," he winked suggestively before finishing his short trek out of the room. Maybe he could find someone to play with now, to keep himself occupied until then.

Well, after some pondering on just what to do next (as far as that whorehouse went), Hatsuharu decided that he should press his luck there, and go empty handed. Who knew? Maybe Hatori was feeling generous?

A couple weeks and no Shigure? Sure Hatori was feeling a little generous. Since that idiot had stayed out he'd noticed the increase in profits. That didn't mean Haru was getting shit though. Lucky for him Kyo still had permission to give that money back. If he'd seen the kid he MIGHT have. Kyo was around; he just hadn't seen the kid come in. If he had, he MIGHT have gone over to give the money back. He liked having an extra hundred tucked away just in case though.

Well, Haru went in that day. He was hoping that Kyo might be around that would be nice. Especially if he could get his mom's money back, too. When asked a short little Asian hostess with a 'Karen' nametag pointed the red headed hooker out to him. Kyo was currently just idling, waiting for some more people to show up.

"Hey!" Haru called, walking over to him. "Did you find out about my money, by any chance?" He asked after a moment, for lack of anything better to say after his greeting.

"Uh-huh," The whore smiled lazily at him. "Hatori said you could have it back. Since you've been suuuch a good boy." He smirked at him a little.

"We really can't afford to let my dad in here." Haru repeated what he'd told Hatori before. It really was pretty obvious to him. "We'd go broke, if we did."

"All right," Kyo laughed softly before hopping down from his tall chair. "I'll go get that money of yours."

"That'd be great." He smiled slightly. Well, he couldn't give the money back to his mom, but that was another fuck he could buy that wouldn't take anything MORE away from their bank account. The slut handed over the money a little later, but not without brushing up against him a bit; in the hopes of getting him aroused.

Haru let out a tiny sigh when he started doing that. "You want to keep it and give me another round?" He offered after a moment.

"Why, yes, yes I do." Kyo grinned putting the money in his pocket and taking him off to one of the rooms where they could play for a while.

"That was probably a stupid question." Haru noted idly, as they went in search of an empty room. "I mean, it's your job. Of course you'd want to keep money."

"You're catching on," The whore grinned back at him and finally pulled him into a room. If they only had an hour like last time they should probably get to it.

"That was fun." Haru sighed, once they were done. He could easily get used to being bottom. Yes, fun. Rin and Akito would both murder him, if they ever found out, but it was fun. Kyo favored him with a tongue filled kiss before moving away completely.

"It's not often I get to do anybody." He snorted looking for clothes. "The other whores are sure to be jealous. We're supposed to GET done."

"Must be a generous masochist." Haru shrugged a little, with a tiny smirk. He was referring to himself, by the way, not Kyo. He wasn't really sure how doing someone counted as masochism, actually. But, being done hurt. The whore eyed him in amusement. He didn't mind it too much but this kid was obviously stupid. If you're gonna pay that much money, you should be on the giving end. The fun end. Well, Haru didn't really know that. Kyo was his first experience with a male whore, as previously stated.

"Why do I get the feeling you're mocking me in your mind?" Haru asked him with a small sigh, as the amused look got to him.

"Because I am." The red head assured him, shimming back into his little shorts.

"Great." Haru rolled his eyes. "You don't even know me, and you're already making fun of me."

"Exactly. I don't know you." He pulled the last bits of clothes and jewelry on before heading for the door. "Bye."

"Yeah, bye." Haru called after him, and really just lay there for a moment, before he got up to get cleaned up, and dressed again.

When Haru did finally return home he got the pleasant surprise of not only Akito and Shigure at the kitchen table, but Rin as well. It was obvious his girlfriend was talking to his mother, and Shigure was just sitting there for something to do since he wasn't allowed to go out anywhere alone.

"Hi...?" Haru greeted in light confusion, when he entered the kitchen and saw her. Had Rin been supposed to come over, and he just somehow missed it?

"Your mother invited me over for dinner." Rin grinned over at him, and Akito nodded absently from behind a cup of tea. She still wasn't that fond of the girl, but she was making an attempt. Shigure just thought it best to stay the hell out of this conversation.

"Oh, okay." HIS mother had invited Rin for dinner? That was new. "Great." He was still confused, but he decided it would probably be best to just let it drop.

"It won't be ready for a little while yet and I'm sure Rin is bored talking to your father and I. Why don't you go do something with her, Hatsuharu, dear?" Akito suggested oh so subtly.

"Sure," He agreed, catching onto that **much** more quickly. "Come on?" He offered, glancing at Rin, silently imploring her to just go with him.

The girl hadn't seen her boyfriend for a couple days. She was plenty willing to go with him.

"So, you've been okay?" Haru wanted to make sure, once they were outside. It was best to stay away from his mother while she was cooking, as a general rule.

"Yeah, I'm fine" she nodded, Akito hadn't killed her yet. "I haven't seen you for a while, what about you?" She nudged him playfully. "What have you been doing?"

"Not much." He shrugged a little, and he really hadn't. He'd only done an hour worth of interesting. Maybe he should just get a job, to pay for more of those hours of interesting.

Rin, being a woman, was more than happy to share the details of her own life until they returned to the house for dinner, after which she would be returning to her own New Orleans home.

"See?" Haru confronted his mother, once he'd seen his girlfriend out the door. "She's not so bad."

"And I was plenty polite to her." Akito answered coolly.

"For which, I am very grateful." He nodded to her.

"As long as it doesn't waste my money, whatever makes you happy Hatsuharu." She sighed, like the good mother she is.

"I'll be wasting a lot less of it." Haru confirmed. He'd been thinking about it all evening, and a job seemed to be the best choice. "I was thinking about getting a job. Pay my own expenses, you know?" He was nineteen, after all. He should get a job.

"You're such a good boy." Akito crooned scurrying over and hugging him. "You didn't inherit your fathers genes. I'm so proud."

"It's not right to use so much of your money." Haru shrugged a little. "I'm an adult, I should act like it."

"He's had a job at some point, if you asked him your father WOULD help you find one." She stated

"I think I might have a place." Haru replied vaguely. "To start off, anyway. I know the owner." He might be able to get to know that red head too, if he started working there.

"Good boy. Business relations are good." His mother continued to praise, she was into her motherly cloud so badly now, she probably wouldn't hear anything else he said.

"Yeah." He nodded, feeling a slight squirming in his stomach. Though, he couldn't place it as pleasant or otherwise. "I'll go talk to him tomorrow."

Little Karen was there as usual. She looked like she was about 16, but she'd been working here so long that Hatori knew otherwise. Anyways, the little hostess directed the boy over to where her owner was looking over a newspaper.

"Ah, Hatori?" Haru called over to him. He was pretty sure that was his name, anyway.

"Hmm?" The man wondered not looking up. He wasn't sure he knew this person, but if they wanted to talk they could feel free. He might listen?

"Yeah, I was wondering," He set down awkwardly in a chair. He had a plan. "Do you think we could make a little adjustment in our bargain?"

Hatori glanced up. Oh! It was the Sohma kid. "Maybe." Depended on the adjustment obviously.

"Well, instead of getting free fucks, sometimes. Do you think I could have a job? So that I could actually, I don't know, pay for them?"

"How old are you?" He wondered, idly butting out a nearly gone cigarette and setting about moving onto the next. _(Chain smokers unite)_

"Nineteen." He answered instantly. That was old enough to be a bar back, at least.

Hatori gave him an appraising look. "You look a bit older." He murmured before setting about lighting his stick of death. "Can you land a solid punch?" He always needed some guys around who could fight; sometimes his whores couldn't take on a guy if he got too rough. Haru grinned and nodded. Security jobs sounded fun. And, yes, he could fight. "Right, yeah, sure. That's fine." The owner finally waved it off. "Keep my whores safe, get rid of drunks, and stop fights. I think you get the idea, and if someone asks don't tell them you're nineteen." He warned. The last thing he needed was some woman's organization finding out and saying he was using young men and corrupting them with his filthy whores so there could be no better tomorrow.

"Can do." Haru agreed. "How much does it pay?"

"500 a week." Hatori shrugged puffing on his cigarette out of absolute habit.

Well, he lived at home. That was more than enough to cover his expenses. "Great." He agreed almost instantly.

"When can you start?"

"Whenever." Haru shrugged. "Today, if you want."

"Good." The owner liked that. "We don't usually have too many problems in the afternoon. So just keep a look out for any drunks who might be a pain." He shooed him off absently. He still didn't know the kid's name but he also didn't care.

Well, that was that. So, now all he had to do was wait. The red head wasn't there, at the moment, so he couldn't talk to him. So, he just grabbed a seat at a table and did that. Waited.

Kyo had been spending most of the previous night, and a good lot of today with a guy who had quite a bit of money. He said he was on a business vacation, the first and last in a while and he wanted it good. So the whore eventually came down the stairs and the first person he went to pester was his owner. He needed to fork over Hatori's cut of the money, and then he'd start checking out the new meat. And, Hatori was quite happy to get his money too. He was always happy to get his money. That was why he owned this place. Kyo nuzzled the man teasingly before hopping off to get a bar stool, then he spotted the Sohma kid.

"And he reappears? Shouldn't you 'a run out of money by now?" He wondered, raising an eyebrow. Even if he wasn't buying whores, things were expensive in here.

"Oh, I did." Haru assured him. "That's why I'm here. To get more."

"Shouldn't you be at a bank for that?"

"For a withdraw," He confirmed with a nod. "But, I'm not qualified for a job there."

"You're working here?" The red head blinked. Well, that could be fun.

"Yeah." He nodded again. "Security. Start today."

"Oh good." Kyo grinned. "The last guy got beat up and Hatori and Karen have been having to do it."

"That's assuring." Haru mumbled, but no less sure of himself. "But, I think I'll be fine."

"I hope so." The whore taunted. "Wouldn't want to ruin your pretty face." He winked.

"I've been training since I was seven." Haru informed him with a small grin. "I think I'll be fine." He repeated confidently.

"Good. I'll be sure to tell the girls you're the new security." Kyo assured him before heading off into the not too crowded room.

Haru watched idly after him, for a moment, before crossing his arms on the table and letting his chin rest on them. Well, nothing to do but wait for something to happen. Seemed like an easy way to make five hundred dollars a week.


	3. The Bouncer

Disclaimer: Not mine. This was made for fun, not profit.

**House of the Rising Sun**

**Chapter 3: The Bouncer**

It was usually fairly calm in the house, actually. It was a professionally run place, and with a host and hostess like Hatori and Karen... Well, Hatori had a certain look about him, and Karen had a reputation in the area. But sometimes, an out of Towner would stop in and cause trouble.

It was one of those magical times when one of the maids could hear some calling from in one of the rooms.

"Fuck! You're hurting me! Nnngh!"

The guy wasn't that big, but he was careless, overly rough, and, apparently, he felt like smacking a certain red headed whore he had pinned beneath him. He was also in the process of getting a gag and some restraints to hold this whore down by ripping the bed sheets up. Well. The maid scampered downstairs in search of the pretty security boy.

Haru really felt the need to frown, when he heard what was going on. This did seem to fall under that protecting the Whores bit that Hatori had mentioned, and so, he got up and went to go see if the maid was correct, and there was indeed a whore in need of protecting.

By the time he arrived the guy had succeeded in silencing Kyo's protests. Well, not silence, but obscure and muffle them. The whore was glaring death and daggers at him, probably spouting every profane word he knew, and squirming halfheartedly against him. He couldn't move too much, that hurt, a lot. The guy, of course, didn't appreciate being disturbed and moved away to get rid of Haru.

And it was just about then, that Haru realized he didn't really know what he was doing. However, there WAS that red head tied up on the bed.

"Is there a problem, sir?" He offered finally.

"Yeah, Red here and I were juuuust havin' a bit of play time. You can shoo any time now." He nodded, narrowing his eyes a little.

"Eh!" The whore shook his head from where he was tied up. This was not playtime! He needed to be let go, right now.

"You're really not supposed to tie them up, you know." That could very well be a blatant lie, he really didn't know. But, that whore really didn't look too happy. "So, you want to undo that now?"

"I don't think he minds." The 'customer' shrugged, but Kyo growled in response to that. "Hey, I'm payin' you." he called over his shoulder irritably at the bitch.

"Sounds like he does mind." Haru protested a little. "And, you messed up the sheet, too. You'll need to pay for that." Again, a possibly blatant lie. But, he figured he'd go for it. Maybe he could get a bonus, out of it.

"Look kiddo, you ain't gonna do nothin'. Why don't you scoot and let the adults finish?" He rolled his eyes. Kyo looked imploringly at Haru and nodded his head encouragingly in the man's direction. He should keep up with the 'lies'; if all else failed he could just punch the guy.

"Or not." Haru declined. "See, it's kinda my job to make sure you don't do anything stupid to him." He explained simply, with a vague nod toward Kyo. "It's purely subjective, you have to understand. And, I'd have to--subjectively--call tying him to a bed stupid."

The guy gave him a dry look before coming over a few more steps and placing a hand on the kid's shoulder.

"Job or not. I think I can kick your ass either way?" And he let a low punch loose. Kyo smirked. Whether that punch landed or not, he hoped the Sohma kid would beat the fuck out of him now. Haru carefully dodged, and preceded to knee the guy in the groin. That was an effective way to settle any argument.

"Want to put a wager on that?" He offered with a slight smirk, down at the guy.

The guy stared at him, and decided right there: That with security like this, he'd need to leave now or sacrifice some of his fun. Besides he wanted to leave with **some** of his dignity. So he just zipped his pants up (He'd been in such a hurry to screw the red head he had only undone them) and set about leaving. But Kyo nodded urgently after him.

"'O a't'r 'im!" The guy still needed to pay! He could wait a moment to be untied.

Haru nodded, and took after him. "Hey! You don't get this for free, just cause I hit you!"

"Get? I didn't get much of anything." He glared. Nothing but a bruised ego...

"So?" He raised an eyebrow. "You still owe standard fee, plus the extra charge for the fucked up sheets."

He was about to protest, but then he remembered what had just happened. So he snorted irritably and pulled out a wallet before tossing the money to the kid and making his tactful retreat.

"Thank you for your patronage." Haru called after him, with a smug little smirk, before going back to free the bound whore.

Kyo was happy about that. He pecked his savior on the cheek once he was free and then set about getting dressed immediately afterwards. He was irritated by his slight limp. He'd need to check and make sure he wasn't bleeding after he took the money to Hatori. Oh yeah, the money! He needed to get it from Haru.

"Here." Haru handed the cash over to him. "I got Hatori reimbursement for the sheets, too." He added, just in case the red head hadn't noticed.

"Ooh, good job." The red head crooned. "I'll put in a good word for you." He promised, checking the money then heading off to have a talk with the owner.

"Haaaaatori." Kyo purred softly, climbing up onto his desk, getting thoroughly in the man's way as he did so.

"Hm?" Hatori looked up from whatever it was he was doing, to look at his employee.

"The Sohma kid did a good job today." He answered vaguely, counting out the money for the sheets and Hatori's cut from what he had in his hands.

"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow, and received the money curtly. "Someone get too rowdy?"

"Yes," the whore pouted. "Bastard hurt me."

"That's too bad," Hatori commented. "Make sure you're not bleeding. Take the afternoon off, if you are." No good came from irritating internal bleeding, right after it occurred.

Kyo grinned mentally. That's what he'd been hoping for. "There's money for the ripped sheets in there too." He pointed out idly before scooting off of the man's desk. He made sure to give the whorehouse owner a hug before he limped off to check himself and clean up. _(Seriously, all the whores love Hatori. He takes good care of them.)_

"Hey!" Haru called after him, once he emerged, but before he could get off to get cleaned up. "You okay?"

"Yep," Kyo paused, pulling the owner's office door shut behind himself and leaning back against it lazily. "You did a good job. Thanks." He repeated with a small grin.

"No problem." Haru shrugged a little. "Think I could bribe a little, tiny reward out of you?"

"Depends on what it is." The whore answered flatly.

"Your name." The duel-colored boy replied simply. Really, that was all he wanted. A bonus would be nice, but the guy's name would be damn helpful. The red head raised an eyebrow at him. He didn't usually give out his name. But the kid worked here. He'd find out from someone eventually, might as well be him.

"Kyo," He shrugged limply before excusing him on the grounds that he needed to make sure he wasn't bleeding out his asshole. Haru snorted helplessly at Kyo's phrasing.

Kyo…

He was sure that knowledge would come in handy at some point.

It was another sum of weeks later. Haru was returning from work when he ran into Rin. They hadn't seen very much of each other since Haru had gotten his job and Rin was an older woman, so she had work too, to support herself. This didn't leave them much time for each other, apparently. But she was apparently heading for his house.

"Oh, Haru." She blinked at him oddly. "I was, just going to see about talking to you."

"Oh?" Haru raised an eyebrow at her. That didn't sound too good. "Well, here I am."

"Mmm yeah." she paused to consider her words. "Haru." She sighed and just decided to be blunt. "We haven't been spending all that much time together." It had been months. "And I met someone else at work."

"Oh...?" Haru repeated in slightly flat tone. He should have known this was coming. He was working for a bunch of whores, for God's sake. (Even if it was meant in a literal sense.) And, even though Rin didn't actually know, wouldn't karma be playing its part in his life?

The young woman gave him a dry look. "Yeah. This is what happens when you don't see your significant other for several months at a time."

"I DO have days off," Haru pointed out, to remind her that it wasn't completely his fault. "They just don't happen to be when yours are."

"I'm sorry Haru." She shook her head tiredly. "But, I wanted to come tell you, and be honest. Rather than cheat on you with this guy." She didn't hate him; they'd just grown too far apart.

Oh, good lord! The irony was starting to burn a whole in the ground.

"Yeah," He agreed, scratching through his hair a little. "Honesty's the best policy, I guess."

"Look, it's late now. I need to go." She finally concluded, hugging him quickly before turning to go.

"Bye." He called after her, softly, and then turning--glumly--and heading inside. Yes, he had days off. But the next day wasn't one of them.

His mother was already asleep, and his father was just reading a newspaper. So no one really noticed the boy's unhappy mood. When he went to work the next day, nobody would probably notice there either.

Mmm, no. Poor Hatsuharu's foul mood continued to go unnoticed... until he saw Kyo, and shoved two hundred dollars in his hand. He needed more than an hour that day. And he wasn't going to just lie down and be done, either. The red head looked at him oddly but then they just headed upstairs. The whore was momentarily thrown for a loop by Haru's much more aggressive behavior. He wasn't complaining. This is what he got paid to do, and he'd long since healed from that last guy. The Sohma kid just hadn't ever done this before.

And, Haru used up those whole two hours. Though, he wasn't sure he felt any better, once they were done.

"That was fun, what got you all riled up?" Kyo wondered during those few moments he was still pinned under the other.

"My girlfriend dumped me." He shrugged a little, panting lightly. "Unceremoniously. Said we weren't spending enough time together, and she met someone else."

The whore chuckled. "Better than her having a hissy fit about you cheating on her." he murmured under his breath.

"I guess." He agreed with a small nod. "And, it really was true. We haven't seen much of each other." Kyo was okay with taking a few minutes of break. But he really didn't want to hear too much about this kid's life. So he kissed his cheek and purred out a never really felt apology before squirming to be let up. It took Haru a moment to notice his squirming, but he did let him up a moment later.

"Thanks." He murmured, staring idly at the ceiling for a few minutes, after. The red head passed him an odd look as he headed out the door, but just kept on his way. Routine demanded he go give this money to Hatori now.

"Busy morning?" Hatori murmured curiously, as he took his percentage.

"Not really." Kyo replied, hanging over Hatori's shoulders from behind lazily. "That's all from Sohma."

"Two hours?" Hatori raised an eyebrow. That was odd. The kid usually adhered to a very strict one hour per week pattern. This was the first time he'd broken it, thus far.

"Nnnhnn," The whore answered, leaning forward a little and pressing his cheek to the owner's a little. "He's all upset about, something, I don't remember. And he needed to let it all out by doing me into the sheets." He licked his lips slowly. He'd had fun!

"Hmmm," He shrugged a little. "Maybe, he'll keep going longer. More money for you, right?" More money for him, too.

"How very subtle of you, Hatori." Kyo teased softly. "But, frustrated men do practically orgasm out money." He agreed after a moment.

"Exactly." He nodded. He knew. He'd thrown quite a bit of money away to prostitutes in the height of emotion, when he was young, before he'd bought The Rising Sun, and got his own whores he could fuck for free.

The younger man kissed his cheek quickly before going off. He'd need to talk to Haru later and convince him to throw down a bit more money.

Haru was sitting out front, in the bar, making sure the two drunks up at the counter didn't get into some sort of fistfight, or anything.

"Feel any better?" The red head wondered in a low tone as he sidled up next to the kid. He didn't feel bad about distracting Haru, Karen had half an eye on them from where she was over by the door, and she was security too.

"Hm?" Haru blinked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Oh, kinda. It didn't fix anything with Rin, but it was fun."

"Good," Kyo purred out seductively. "I feel a little bad for you." That was a blatant lie. "So, even though Hatori would kill me for giving you freebee's, I'm willing to give you a little discount if you're looking for some happy rebound time." He offered. If Haru came and did him enough, it would more than make up for what he lost in this little discount.

"What kind of discount?" He asked curiously, offering him an odd look.

"I'll cut the price for you a bit." 100 to 75? Saves Haru money either way. It's kind of like a buy four fucks, get the fifth one free kind of deal.

"Sure." He agreed with a small grin. "But, not today. Maybe tomorrow." Maybe, he still needed to be careful not to blow his whole paycheck, even without Rin. Kyo smiled and looked damn hot while he did it. He hugged Haru around the neck and gave him a quick kiss before going about his actual job. He was done making nice with the bouncer for now. Well, at least his break up had been good for one thing; it had saved Haru twenty-five dollars per fuck with Kyo. That was always nice, right?

The red head and Hatori were both very pleased with the increase in cash coming from the boy's direction. They weren't too caring about why he was upset, but they hoped it lasted a while.

Well, as time passed, Haru started taking on more and more hours--since he broke up with Rin. He had no girlfriend, now, so, why shouldn't he spend as much time as he dared with the whores he was coming to be slightly fond of? It was better than sitting at home (even if his lungs were suffering due to the smoke in the bar.) and dealing with his mother's suspicions.

Of course his mother was suspicious. But Haru wasn't barely ever at home, so she couldn't very well talk to him about it, now could he. The red headed slut and his owner were increasingly impressed by how much time Haru tended to spend in bed with the boy. He was a good bouncer too, so he had a steady flow of cash to do this with.


	4. The Whore

Disclaimer: Don't own it. Made for fun, not profit.

**House of the Rising Sun**

**Chapter 4: The Whore**

Yes, and that pattern of getting paid, and handing (usually a pretty good chunk of) that money right over to Kyo, to get his time in with him, continued right on like that through the months of autumn and into winter. December twenty fifth was drawing near, and Haru couldn't help over hearing the many, many whores giggling and talking about Hatori's (apparently annual) Christmas party, which would arrive on the holiday. It sounded like fun, actually, and he kind of wanted to go, but he wasn't sure how he could escape his mother on such a major holiday, either.

"Hey," The red head called over to him one night, when it was a bit slow because of the weather. _(He still didn't know the boy's name. Neither he nor Hatori actually cared either.) _"Are you going to be staying for the party?" He wondered, batting his eyes playfully at his co-worker.

"Perhaps." He shrugged a little. "If I can talk my mom into it." His mother would probably flip, but he might be able to think of an excuse to avoid her mandatory hissy fit.

"Hmmm?" The whore blinked at him idly. "What's to talk her into? You're staying for your company Christmas party to make nice with your boss in the hopes of getting a raise and or promotion." He raised an eyebrow elegantly as he spoke.

"She might buy it." He mused quietly. "What time would it start?" He'd be lucky if she didn't smack him for trying to skip Christmas dinner.

"Nnn, probably around eight." Kyo murmured thoughtfully.

Haru raised his eyebrows at him. "Eight should be fine, Mom's just a maniac about holiday dinners."

"Okay," The red head chirped softly, patting his head jokingly before heading off.

Haru's mother had a similar reaction. "You're doing so well at your job. I'm so proud of you." She beamed, and Shigure was happy she was happy, because it got some of the heat off of him if he fucked up.

Haru just blushed a bit, and shrugged under the compliment. "It's not hard. And my boss is pretty easy to work for."

Akito sighed happily. It was all just so nice! Her son was growing into a fine young man! He was going to be home for Christmas dinner, and her husband hadn't been gambling. She could die a happy woman right now.

"The party starts at eight." Haru told her, as an after thought. "So, I'll need to leave before then."

"That's good, dear." The woman nodded. He would still have plenty of time to spend with his parents, of course. And Akito wouldn't have to put up with that horrible Rin girl this year. It was getting better and better!

"Thanks, Mom." He smiled gratefully at her, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. Maybe, Christmas at the Rising Sun wouldn't be as formal, or tense, as it was at home.

Oh hell no. If you'd asked one of the whores they would have grinned and told you it was just a big orgy with alcohol. Which wasn't exactly truthful, but it wasn't formal in any way shape or form. Though, a few of them, Kyo included, took this opportunity to dress in normal clothes. _(Still not formal though.) _The red head came over to greet him when he showed up to.

"Hey--" He started and then paused. "Mmm, grant me an early Christmas present and tell me your name?" He requested with a grin. He wasn't that bothered that he'd known the boy for about half a year now and was just now asking his name.

Haru snorted helplessly at the request. "Haru." He offered after a moment. "Hatsuharu, if you want to be technical. But Haru's fine."

"All right," Kyo chuckled before trying again. "Hey Haru, welcome to the party."

"Thank you." Haru nodded, giving Kyo a quick look, taking in the sight of real clothes on his--co-worker. It felt a little odd to see so MUCH clothing on him. But, he supposed, he really should have thought that even the whores would have normal clothes, which they wore sometimes. That was Kyo's only set of normal clothes, really. But if Haru thought that was odd? Well, when Kyo dragged him off somewhere and introduced him to Karen's husband? Just imagine the look on his face. Especially since the other whores were all cooing over him as well.

"How long have you and Karen been married?"

The hostess really only looked 16 but she obviously can't be because:

"We got married when she was 16. So it's been a good 20 years now."

Anyways, once introductions were finally made with their co-worker, Haru was free to just go sit at the bar and talk with Kyo. It was a holiday, and Hatori didn't actually care to begin with, so alcohol was allowed to all.

"So," Haru spoke up conversationally, once they were over there. "I really don't know anything about you." It sounded odd, considering how long they'd been working together, but it was true. Kyo had never bothered to sit down and talk about himself. The red head gave him an odd look before propping his chin up in his hand with his elbow in the bar counter. He looked thoughtful for a moment, carefully considering his words.

"There's nothing much about me to know."

"It just seems weird." He explained slowly. "I mean, I've known you for a while now, but, like I said before, I don't know ANYTHING ABOUT you."

"I could say about the same to you." The whore murmured sounding amused.

"You know more about me, than I know about you." Haru pointed out. "Besides, is there anything you really want to know?" He questioned, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Hmm, no." Kyo admitted smiling a little. "But what is it you want to know about me?" He wondered idly.

"I don't know." He shrugged a little. "Just something. Anything, really."

The slut really did laugh at him that time. "That's somehow helpful all the none."

"Good lord, you don't have to laugh." Haru pouted a little, wracking his brain for a question, just out of principle. "How old are you?" He offered finally, upon thinking of one.

"Twenty one," Kyo answered, calming down, though he did have to smirk at how the younger boy was pouting.

And, it continued like that, with Haru asking, as though he was trying to prove a point. He thought of some really, horribly, irrelevant and cliché questions, too. What was Kyo's favorite color? Did he like music? Did he like reading? Where did he go to school? What was his favorite food? Favorite animal? And so on, and so forth.

And he discovered that Kyo didn't have much of a life at all. He was a whore, and he'd been here for a good 5 years now. Before he'd been a whore, his mother had home schooled him, and the rest of his life he was working because his family was so damn poor. In his opinion, he hadn't been kidding when he'd said there wasn't much to know about him.

And, Haru hadn't been kidding about not caring how much, or what it was. He just wanted to know SOMETHING. It was the whole not wanting Kyo to be some mysterious, random, whore crusade.

Kyo had just been about to tell him where his parents were now, but then Karen came over and poke Kyo, interrupted them.

"Hatori says you're first."

"Whoa, it's time already?" He looked up at the clock. Time had kind of flown there. "Wait a minute, nuh-uh! I went first last year!"

"You try telling that to Hatori." The hostess shrugged with a small smile, then just grabbed the red head and hauled him off.

"First what?" Haru blinked after him, in mild confusion. What the hell was going on? He was ignored for a few moments as the whore was pushed unceremoniously into the owner's rooms, then Karen returned.

"Nnn, he should be back in a while." She told the bewildered boy.

"What the fuck?" Haru raised an eyebrow at her, questioningly.

"Exactly!" The hostess nodded with a wry grin.

"What...?" Haru blinked a few times, frowning a little, thinking through his words. "Oh," He realized after a few minutes. Well, that did make sense, he supposed.

"It's a fantastic House of the Rising Sun tradition!" She chuckled. Haru didn't exactly reply to that, just blushed a bit, and took a LONG drink from the beer in front of him. He really should have known as much.

You could tell when Kyo remerged because all the other female whores clapped noisily for him. They all thought it was very funny. But Kyo just rolled his eyes and went back over to his spot from earlier. He'd cleaned up in Hatori's room, but he was still a bit disheveled and his face was still blushed from his exertions. Hatori appeared a little later and since the premiere boy was done, had the others make a nice line outside his door and wait their turn.

"Sorry about that." The whore apologized halfheartedly. "Hatori is an impatient bastard sometimes."

"It's fine." Haru brushed it off. He was trying to be careful with his alcohol intake. He didn't want to go home any more than tipsy--and not even that, if he could help it. The last thing he needed was his mother finding out and interrogating him on why he was drunk. The red head smiled and climbed back into his chair, reclaiming his drink as he did so.

"I think it's your turn to be fully interrogated now." He chuckled softly and they went into an interrogation session much like the one Haru had just given Kyo. This time they were uninterrupted though.

Haru really wasn't that much more interesting than Kyo. Or, at least, that was how Haru saw it. He and his family had moved to New Orleans a few years before, and he'd met Rin shortly after. He'd gone through middle school and part of high school before they'd moved, and he'd finished it there. His mother was a tailor, and his father was a moron-slash-'professional' gambler.

It was getting a little bit late by the end of this and Kyo smiled softly at him.

"There, I think we're pretty even in knowledge now?" He suggested idly.

"Yeah." He agreed, leaning against the bar idly, and wondering if he could get away with ONE MORE drink, or not. The whore glanced carefully over at the door to Hatori's office. There were still a few more girls over there yet, so, he proceeded to offer Haru his Christmas present. It was fairly obvious what said present was too. He just hadn't asked about doing it for the boy first. Oh well. The owner could shove it. Haru blinked at him a few times, deciding that it was best to just skip the last drink. He was probably already drunk enough for his mom to notice.

"I'm not sure when I'm supposed to be home." He admitted slowly. "But, what the hell...?" He continued, half musing to himself, before smiling slightly up at Kyo. "Thanks."

This time was a present, rather than a favor, or a paid event, so Kyo pressed a little kiss on him before leading him off. He could afford to be a bit more personal about it this time.

"So," Haru murmured breathily, rolling off of Kyo, once they were done. "You going to run off, like you always do?"

The red head gave him an odd look. "Running off?" He repeated and blinked at the younger boy.

"Yeah. Running off, scampering, fleeing, walking away, leaving at a rapid rate."

"Business concludes and I don't have any reason to stay." Kyo corrected flatly.

"I didn't ask for a reason." Haru pointed out simply. "Just if you were doing it again tonight."

It was a rare event, but the whore was flustered. What was it exactly that Haru wanted him to say here! Why was he asking that to begin with? Of course he was going to leave. He frowned a little and decided to be blunt.

"Which answer are you hoping for, Haru?" he asked coolly.

"I'm not sure." He confessed, a little flustered himself. "Just curious."

"The plan was to leave." Kyo confirmed. "But it's your present."

"Look--" Haru started, but stopped himself quickly, and just sighed and shook his head a bit. "Forget it." He mumbled finally. "I should get home, anyway." His mother was going to kill him, as it was. That didn't include the additional punishment for coming home drunk.

"Good plan." The red head grinned with a small snort. Then he pointed vaguely at the clock on the side table before scrabbling out of the bed to get his clothes. Oh, he was going to be dead all right. It was not just past midnight, but 2 in the morning.

"Great." Haru groaned, half heartedly, as he got up and cleaned up as much as he could, trying to keep the pissing off of his mother to a minimal, before getting dressed, and high-tailing it out of there and back home. Maybe, Akito would be asleep already, and she would never even know. The whore waved after him in amusement before going off to see about pestering Hatori.

Haru was lucky. Shigure had convinced Akito to go to sleep, but only on the condition that he would stay up and wait for the boy. So that's where he sat in the living room, reading a book, and waiting for his wayward son so his wife wouldn't murder them both.

"Uh," Haru blinked a little at him, once he arrived back there. "Hi. Mom in bed?"

"Yes," His father answered, obviously bored with waiting. "She told me to stay up and wait for you though. She was all upset and I didn't really want to risk her wrath anyways."

"Well, I'm here so you can go to bed now, too." He suggested, trying to get off to bed WITHOUT a parental interrogation. He wanted to try and avoid a hangover, by sleeping his...party favors off.

"You do realize, if I do that, she'll wake up." Shigure looked at him with a small smirk. "But, I'm willing to sleep on the couch for you, if you tell me about your party and why it is you were there so late."

"Uh, my--friend gave me his present and it took a bit longer than either of us expected?" He offered after a moment. This wasn't exactly true. He hadn't really cared how long it would take, at the time, and he honestly wasn't sure if Kyo constituted a friend, either, actually.

"Oh?" His father looked interested now. Really, he'd sat here bored for several hours, his son could offer up more than that!

"Yep." Haru nodded, rocking on the balls of his feet nervously. Maybe his father wouldn't have to find out just what his mysterious job was, because, if he did, then Akito was SURE to follow.

"Your mother is going to have a conniption..." Shigure sighed, lying back on the couch. "But, I'll be a good father and let you go now."

"Not if she doesn't know what time I came in?" He hinted simply. Perhaps, being a good father would include NOT telling her that still; he quietly made his way up to his room anyway. Maybe his mom had gone to bed pretty early maybe.

She hadn't gone to bed that early, but Haru got off with only a mild scolding as to his partying habits. Shigure was just interested to know where he had been, since; neither of them knew what their son's mystery job was just yet.

Oh, but, they would. There was only a matter of time until Shigure got bored, and decided to give the Rising Sun another visit. While Haru happened to be on duty, of course.

And for once, Shigure didn't have to sneak. He'd begged and pleaded with Akito, who had cracked and only given him a small amount of money. He was so happy to be allowed to go, that he promised to come back once that money was gone.

However, that sent Haru into 'fuck, I'm going to be fired' mode. Really, really quickly.

"Oh, shit." He mumbled to himself, when he saw whom Karen was talking to. Maybe she wouldn't let him in, or, maybe he would just leave.

"Got money today Sohma?" Karen wondered with a wry grin.

"Yeah," Shigure held it up.

"Maybe, you should just give it to me and save everyone some trouble."

"Now, Miss de'Swallow, that would ruin all my fun!" He used the woman's last name as he sighed dramatically.

"I doubt anyone is gonna play with ya, but don't make trouble and our gracious host might not mind."

And he was allowed in.

"No!" Haru hissed unhappily at her. "No! Don't let him in! Bitch!" He ranted under his breath. He was SO going to be fired! Or grounded! Or both! Both seemed pretty likely, at the moment.

The woman came over to the little boy a little later. "I think I've developed a mommy complex." She told him slyly. "I think you should get caught and grounded for working here, and this was a perfect opportunity!" And with that she flounced off. She was in her late thirties and Haru wasn't even twenty yet. Her mommy complex made sense. Either way, Karen going over to Haru had alerted Shigure of his presence.

"Haa-kun?" He raised an interested eyebrow at his son. It seemed to be lacking a bit of the insulting quality to call Karen a whore in here, so Haru just shot some other insults after her, and turned his attention back to his father.

"Er, you want to leave, before Hatori fires me?" He offered finally, deciding he could just get it over with, and get grounded outside, and maybe keep his job.

"I didn't know you worked here." His father stated, blinking a little.

"That was kind of on purpose." He nodded a few times, resting his face in his hand. "But, seriously. Hatori doesn't want you in here, and I'm kind of a bouncer. So, I really am going to get fired if you don't leave, so--"

"You realize, this one I have to tell your mother? Don't you? Because If I don't, she'll ask me if I knew, when she finds out, and it's impossible for me to lie to her?"

"But, if you tell Mom, she'll make me quit." He pointed out. "Or disown me. Or both. None of those are good." Yeah, he either lost his house and parents, or five hundred dollars a week and whores. Or both. He didn't welcome any of that.

"Or she'll cry and give you the I'm very disappointed speech." Shigure nodded thoughtfully. "We'll just have to find out, since if she finds out on her own and finds out I knew I'll be condemned to the couch for half a year and that doesn't sound fun. Bye! I'll see you when you get off work." He waved and headed off. Haru made a few spluttering protests as he left, and turned to glower at Karen, who wasn't too far off.

"I think I might officially hate you, now." He informed her darkly.

The hostess flounced over and glomped him. "And I really don't care. Come on now, you don't really want it on your résumé that you worked in a whorehouse do you? My mommy complex is just demanding I look out for your future!"

"I don't give half a fuck about my future, or resume." Haru pointed out dryly to her. "It's easy cash here." And he got to fuck Kyo regularly! That didn't hurt! "Besides, it wouldn't be 'whorehouse' on it. It would be 'security', or 'bouncer'." He also felt he should point out.

"Easy money yes, but you can't live with your mommy forever, and 500 a week is not gonna support you." The woman snorted.

"Living with her forever wasn't the plan." He muttered defensively. "I haven't been handing it all back over. I've been saving, too. I'm catching a train ride out of here, as soon as I can afford it, and to not starve or be homeless, once I get wherever I'm going."

"Tooo late now." Karen chirped before going off to do her job.

Haru just groaned, and let his face rest on the table again. This sucked! So much!

When Haru returned to the house later, he was required to notice something was very wrong. Because it was very quiet. Akito was fuming in the kitchen and Shigure was hiding in the bathroom. His mother didn't greet him at first, even though she knew it was him. Then she called to him irritably from the kitchen. She was now going to administer the 'I'm very disappointed in you speech'. Haru grimaced and headed into the kitchen, mentally giving himself a pep talk, just in case she decided to disown him, over this. But she really didn't. She frowned at him and looked close to hurt tears but that was about all. She was sad he lied to her, and angry that he didn't have better judgment. But he was an adult. And she was his mother. Except, he hadn't lied to her. He hadn't lied to her, because he hadn't even hinted at what his job had been. Everything he'd told her had been true. _(Well, except for the part about the promotion, but that was SO far down the list.) _But that was beside the point. She was just unhappy he hadn't told her. Anyways, she frowned a bit more before suggesting, not demanding, just suggesting he get a different job before going to brood in her bedroom.

"Mom," Haru called after her, hurrying to catch up with her. "C'mon, don't be mad?" He requested, catching her wrist unhappily.

She looked a few inches from smacking him. But instead she gave him a dry look. "Hatsuharu, dear, weren't you listening? I'm not mad." Akito stated carefully, extracting her wrist as she spoke.

Who did she think she was fooling? Seriously.

"Right," He decided to play along. "Then, you won't be mad when I don't want to leave my friend and a boss I'm actually familiar with." He assumed slowly, in just as careful a tone as hers had been.

"Of course not." His mother answered tersely. "Since I know you're not stupid enough to stay at this job forever." She was still going to be horrible disappointed with his judgment, but she could at least console herself with that.

"No," He agreed softly. "Not forever. Just--just long enough."

"Exactly," Then she finished the trek into her room.

Haru sighed, and raked his fingers through his hair, before turning sharply on his heels, with the intention of going into his own room.

"Thanks a fucking lot." He muttered sarcastically to his father, as he walked past the living room, for the stairs. Well, at least she hadn't disowned him? He still had a house, that was a plus. Shigure had snuck out of his hiding place while Akito and Haru had been talking. He sweat dropped, but didn't answer his son. He was just lucky to have his skin. Both of them were.

Well, either way, Haru came into work the next day to see a very sulky and cross-dressing…? Kyo. He raised a questioning eyebrow at him, pointedly inquiring about the skirt with the expression alteration, as he went over to his sort-of-friend.

"That asshole." Kyo cursed irritably, tugging at the skirt he was stuck wearing. "HATORI I HATE YOU!" He growled loudly, and he knew the owner, who was across the room, could hear him. "Some guy with a fucked up fetish came in here and bought me out for the whole day! And-and Hatori agreed to-to-to this!" The red head gestured angrily at what he was wearing. "Because he paid up front! And, as if that wasn't bad enough! He said he was going to get some-some TOYS and he'd be right back! GAH!" He continued to curse under his breath. Haru eyed him sympathetically, and just sat down next to him, while Kyo waited for his customer to come back.

"If it makes you feel any better, I'll listen really hard for disturbing crashes, and go beat him up, if he tries to hurt you?" He offered finally. Kyo whined unhappily before launching at the boy and hugging him around the neck.

"I swear this guy is like sixty years old." He practically sobbed into his neck. Haru just pet his shoulder awkwardly, and shot Hatori a dirty look. They really should have an age cut off. Like Hatori gave so much as half a fuck? When the customer returned, the owner came and pried Kyo off of his little friend and the poor red head was not seen for the rest of the day.

Fortunately, there weren't any threatening sounds. Unfortunately, Haru's shift ended before he made his reappearance. So, the duel-colored boy would just have to wait until the next day to interrogate him on his well-being.

He was okay. But much like Akito was now doing to Haru, Kyo absolutely refused to speak to Hatori after that. Now, unlike Akito he would probably get over it as soon as Hatori called him in there for a fuck, but, that's beside the point. His 'maidens' pride was currently hurting right now.

Well, as long as he was okay, Haru was pretty much happy. "Well, he didn't hurt you." He murmured, half to himself, once Kyo was finished assuring him.

"No, just forced his disturbing fetish and horrifying toys on me." The red head agreed irritably.

"I'm sorry." Haru mumbled, and offered him the 'at least it's over' to console him. Well, that one was over, anyway. The whore hung on him listlessly from behind, resting his chin on his shoulder. He couldn't go pester Hatori like this, since he was currently boycotting the man. But Haru was close enough.

"Right, right." He agreed tiredly.

Haru just smiled at him, and placed a small kiss on the closest thing to his lips that he could actually reach in this position. Poor Kyo had had a rough day.


	5. The Girlfriend

Disclaimer: Don't own it. Made for fun, not profit.

**House of the Rising Sun**

**Chapter 5: The Girlfriend**

Now, if the whore had known about Haru's troubles, he might have shut the hell up. But he had no idea. And it's not like Haru's troubles were too bad yet. His mom was just a little pissed off, that was all. The real trouble came when he found Rin in his house. With his mother. And she didn't look too happy.

"Rin," He blinked helplessly, when he saw her. "What--are you...?"

"Well. You see." The girl spoke to him tersely, not caring that his mother was there, at all. "Things didn't work out with my friend from work. And I missed you a lot." Akito frowned a little. "So I came to talk to you. But of course, you're not here. You're off, working. Working at a whorehouse. No less."

"Well, yeah." Haru nodded, shooting his mother an odd look. "But, it's not like I'm a whore there. Just security." He honestly didn't see what was so bad about it.

"Maybe, but--" She knew his well enough. "You can't honestly tell me, you've worked there all that time without doing one of the whores." And she meant the time while they were going out; she pointed this out as well. Haru eyed her coolly for a few moments. SHE'D broken up with HIM, and now she was upset over his job?

"Can we talk about this alone?" He requested after a few moments of silence. Rin was feeling oddly justified to be annoyed. She'd given him honesty, and had really expected the same in return. Anyways, Shigure wasn't even there, he'd left as soon as Rin showed up, and now Akito decided she could let the two of them be alone.

"Rin," Haru started, once his mother was gone. "You broke up with me. Did you honestly expect me to just stand there and wait, in case you MIGHT come back?" Really!

"Is that what I said?" She retorted.

"Well then what's the problem?" He asked. "It's not like you weren't sleeping with whoever you left me for, while this was going on."

"That's it exactly! I didn't!" Rin stared at him. "I came and told you! For some amazingly odd reason I was almost expecting a similar courtesy!"

"Oh, yeah," Haru rolled his eyes at her, getting more and more angry by the second. "That's REAL likely. I was just going to go up to you and say, 'Oh, by the way, Rin, the owner of the House of the Rising Sun is going to give me a couple of freebees for keeping my dad out, and I thought I'd take him up on it!' Yeah, that's REALLY likely!" Rin spluttered at him. She made a halfhearted attempt to explain the fact that he'd taken up those fucks was part of the problem to begin with.

"What are you so pissed about, anyway?" Haru demanded, his eyes smoldering indignantly. "You're the one who just got bored and walked off!"

"Haru!" She looked at him with mild disgust. "We didn't see each other even once for a good three months. That's not just getting bored." Rin frowned a little. "And while I'm here, dealing with your mother, waiting for you to come home since no one knows where you work! You're off playing with a bunch of whores!"

"Nnn, only one, and just on Tuesdays." Haru brushed that off a bit. "But, that's not the point."

She gave him an exasperated look before shaking her head and getting up to leave. "Then have fun with your whores." She muttered. Great. She'd been pretty much fucking cuckolded by a whore.

"Glad you're so decisive." Haru rolled his eyes, turning to go to his own room. "Bitch," He added under his breath, in a grumble of high irritation. Poor thing! All he had left was his whore. At least the red head was consistent in his unfaithfulness.

Well, actually, it was the same position he'd been in half an hour ago. But, we can ignore that. Either way, he was pissy, again, when he went into work the next day. He still wasn't sure why his mother had felt the need to tell his ex girlfriend where he worked.

When posed with this question Akito gave him a withering look. "Because I don't like her." She hadn't wanted her son getting back together with the girl!

"But she bitched at me more than you did." Haru pointed out in bemusement. Was this concept of NOT getting Haru in deep shit with women something new and foreign?

"And now she's never going to came back." Akito hummed a little bit. She liked the sound of that. "Or least, I certainly hope so."

"No, I think that's a pretty safe assumption." Haru confirmed, not sure if he liked how pleased his mother was about this.

"I think that's a good thing." His mother mused idly.

"Whatever." Haru shrugged a bit with a small sigh. His shift was technically over, but he had an odd desire to go see Kyo. He hadn't seen much of him that day. "I'm going to go out for a while, I'll be back later." He told her, before heading for the door.

The red head was surprised to see him and scurried over to greet him with a hug.

"Hi Haru?" He crooned questioningly.

"Hi." Haru replied with a small sigh, returning the hug. "Could I bribe you out of an hour or two of your time?"

"Uh-huh," The whore nodded. He sounded all gloomy, and Kyo was kind of wondering what was wrong. But he figured he wouldn't ask. Maybe, if Haru wanted to, he'd just say it himself. Haru let out a small sigh of relief, and placed a tiny, grateful kiss on the side of Kyo's neck, before they set off for an empty room.

Yeah, after that was all taken care of, the slut lay there with the kid, pressed up against his side. He was positive something was bothering him now, but the red head was trying to decide if it was his place to ask or not, and if he actually cared in the first place.

Well, in all honesty, it wasn't his place. But, Haru would answer any question he asked anyway, despite this rather obvious fact. Actually, he was kind of curious as to why Kyo was still there. He usually left right after they were done. Even on Christmas he'd left soon after.

Kyo sat up a little ways and looked down at him. "Something obviously has you upset," he stated carefully. "I was just wondering what it is."

"Hmmm...?" Haru drawled out, blinking at him, before going through the whole messy ordeal, beginning with Shigure's visit to the Rising Sun, and ending with him leaving his mother's house to go there.

"Poor thing," The red head snorted, kissing his forehead. He'd never had girlfriends, or much of a family, so he couldn't sympathize. But he felt bad for Haru nonetheless.

"Rin's a pain." Haru admitted with a shrug. "I guess I'm better off without her. Most people just wait more than five minutes between reconciling and breaking up again."

"You two don't sound like most people," Kyo murmured as he just scooted back down so he was molded against the younger's side again. It was a comfy spot, and he didn't want to go back downstairs right now anyways.

"Not really." Haru confirmed with a small shrug, automatically laying an arm across Kyo--almost protectively. This was a bad idea, and Haru knew it. He was getting too comfortable, too attached. Kyo was a whore, and Haru was planning on leaving New Orleans all together, as soon as he could afford it. Only bad things came from getting attached to someone, when they were both in such a position.

The red head sighed as he closed his eyes. Then he bit his lower lip unhappily. He should get up. He should ignore that fact that he didn't want to, and just do it anyways. But, he didn't think he would. He was comfortable right there, and his bedmate was apparently comfortable as well.

Once he was pretty damn sure that Kyo wasn't going anywhere, Haru actually allowed himself to relax a little. This wasn't the best plan, as he soon followed with actually falling asleep. He was so tired. Both physically and emotionally drained from all that had occurred over the course of the day, between work, Rin, and screwing. He was pretty sure he'd have to pay Hatori for the room the next morning, too. But, that wasn't why he was cursing, when he woke up. No, that was more to do with the fact that it was seven in the morning. True, he'd told his mother he'd be back 'later', but he didn't think she would accept this as later.

Kyo had gotten up several hours ago, Hatori was going to massacre him doing that. But, he was going to just take his punishment. Anyways, true to Haru's predictions, Akito really wasn't that happy about his choice of returning time.

"Hi, mom." Haru greeted lamely, once he arrived back home, and failed miserably at sneaking past her, to his room.

"I thought you were coming back much sooner." She gave him a very irritated look.

"So did I." Haru admitted with a light blush. "I was with a friend, and I fell asleep over there."

"Hatsuharu--" Akito sighed in exasperation. She had been so proud of him! And now everything was just going down hill. She couldn't even find words to describe her annoyance right now.

"Well, it's not like I woke you up, coming in," Haru pointed out, pretty irritated himself. "I'm almost twenty years old, would it make you feel better if I just moved out?" That would be hard to do, but he might, out of principle, anyway.

She frowned a little. "I don't know. Living on your own might really be best for you." Maybe then he would learn some of these life lessons he seemed not to be grasping.

"Oh, yeah. I seem to be having a fucking tough time with them." Haru muttered sarcastically. "I had personal expenses, so I got a job--doing something I'm actually good at--to pay for them. How dare I show such nerve!" It was probably not too smart of tick Akito off anymore, but he was pretty annoyed. He'd obviously gotten his mother's temper.

His mother gave him a dry look. "Yes, such nerve." She rolled her eyes.

"Well, then?" Haru raised his eyebrows at her. "What are these magical life lessons, I seem to be having such trouble with?" He wanted to know.

"That when you have a girlfriend you shouldn't go off with whores, even if your mother despises her?" His father suggested suddenly coming up behind his son and getting right in his face.

"That was your fault." Haru pointed out dryly to him. "If you hadn't decided to decrease Hatori's profits by a good five hundred per week, I wouldn't have met him OR Kyo." That hadn't been too smart either, he realized a moment too late though.

"Oh, sounds like our son is quite the regular customer! And here your mother was hoping you just worked there." Shigure murmured. "Well, looks like you've mastered the art of blowing money." He snorted and ruffled his son's hair. "I'm so proud."

"Not quite." He droned flatly at him. "I'll have enough to get out of here in two months--tops."

"Good luck with that then." His father chortled.

"And, unlike you," Haru continued, figuring if he was going to disrespect his parents, he should just go for it. "I use my OWN money, AND I actually get something back OUT of it, worth every penny I put in!"

'Tcch, now what is the fun in that." Shigure shrugged dramatically.

"At least I don't hurt other people, whom I'm SUPPOSED to care about!"

"Right, right." The man was still laughing at his son. He couldn't help it! It was funny! And Akito was just ignoring the both of them.

"Do you think it's fun, having to search all the casinos and whorehouses for you, every day?" He demanded sharply at him. "To worry about whether we're going to loose our house, or if we're going to be able to eat--because you blow every dime Mom can make?"

"Yes, and I'm usually drunk at the time too." Shigure corrected after thinking about that a bit.

"It's not." Haru informed him, his tone loosing quite a bit of it's anger, so that it was actually pretty dull, before leaving the room, to change and head back out--to actually work, this time.

Upon arrival, one would be forced to notice a lack of Kyo. Since, the red head usually spotted the younger boy and came to greet him. This did not occur. Upon asking Karen, Haru also found out that the red head hadn't gone off with a customer either, making it very hard to imagine where the whore might be. Haru frowned a little, but pretty much shrugged it off. He needed to get his check from Hatori, anyway, so, he just went to go do that, while he waited for Kyo. That was how he found Kyo. On Hatori's desk—Being--fucked by--none other than—Hatori? See, as predicted, the owner hadn't been too happy about Kyo just going off with Haru all night. But some proper persuading had gotten him to get over it and Kyo was in process of offering up his apology sex. Hatori wasn't to be interrupted, but Kyo arched on the desk to look at see who had opened the door.

"Ha--ha--" He was either trying to tell Hatori someone was there, or trying to say something to Haru. Either way, it just ended up in a draw out moan. Haru mumbled out an apology, and short explanation, before he started to leave the room. Hatori didn't really stop what he was doing, at all. He just pointed, and grunted. Haru glanced at where he was pointing, and, sure enough, there was his check. He grabbed it, and mumbled thanks to Hatori, before leaving, and leaving the building too. He needed to think, and he was pretty sure that the smoke was clouding his brain, in addition to the room. Kyo watched after him but then his brain functions were forced to stop again as he arched up against his boss and cried out again softly. Maybe he could talk to Haru later--when Hatori finally—stopped.

Wow, Haru noted flatly, sitting idly on the House's front porch. Kyo really was a whore. And, he wasn't going to stop being one--not for him, anyway--and, Hatori really did do his whores. That, only kind of sucked a lot.

When he was finally released from his boss' clutches Kyo found some clothes and went in search of his friend. He didn't really have anything to say, since he wasn't going to apologize. He was a slut after all, but he was interested to know if Haru's mother had disowned him yet or not. Haru tossed him a quick look, just the barest flicker of his eyes; just enough to see it was him. He didn't move, though. And he didn't say anything, for several minutes.

"I've been thinking about leaving." He informed the other softly, finally. "New Orleans, I mean. I've been thinking about it a lot--for a long time."

"Good," Kyo grinned, even though he wasn't actually all that thrilled about it inside. "This town is a giant hell hole."

"Yeah," Haru agreed thoughtfully, with a small snort. "I think I will. I can actually afford it now, anyway." That wasn't quite true, but he had enough to get a cheap apartment, until he could get another job and a better one.

The red head leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Good luck with that." he stuck out his tongue and made a little slobbery spot on the younger's cheek. "Wouldn't want you to stay here and end up a whore too." He joked.

"Why did you come to work here?" Haru asked curiously, upon hearing that. He knew why he was there, but he still had no clue about Kyo.

"My mother left me here when she got sick." Kyo murmured. "And I've never finished high school, since she was the one schooling me. So, that left me the options of whore or manual labor anyways. I was already here, and this was easier, so this is where I stayed."

"Mm," Haru nodded subdued, still not making any move to look at him. The whore patted his shoulder for a moment before going to head inside. It was good Haru was leaving. They were getting way to fond of each other anyways.

"Kyo," Haru called after him, getting up, and tossing his words over his shoulder, as he all but hopped down the stairs of the porch, to leave. "Tell Hatori I quit, okay?"

"Yeah," the red head swallowed nervously, then hurried inside before he did something stupid.

Haru just shook his head, and started walking off for his house. He needed to pack, after all. He'd only gotten that job, to begin with, so he could afford to see Kyo more often. Now, he knew all too clearly, that he could never have him, no matter how hard he tried. No matter how long he waited. Staying in New Orleans, and waiting, longer than necessary was just stupid. It was just prolonging the inevitable just making it harder.

"Hatori?" The younger man murmured, lacking a bit of his usual pep as he came into the office and draped himself over the back of the owner's chair. "Haru is quitting and stuff."

"I didn't honestly expect him to last as long as he did." Hatori shrugged a bit, relatively unphased about that. They were no worse off than before Haru had come, after all. "Is he turning in his two weeks notice, or just leaving?"

"Dunno, I think he's just leaving." The red head told him.

"Nnn," Hatori shrugged. That was annoying, but again, they were no worse off than before he'd come. "Oh, well. Someone new will come along, eventually."

"You're horrible." Kyo pouted a little.

"Hm?" Hatori blinked at him. "Don't tell me you were getting attached to him?"

"No," the red head snapped quickly, moving off his chair and standing to the side a bit huffily. "But he wasn't a bad guy you're allowed to give half a crap when he up and leaves." Haru had been working there for a whole year!

"Would it make you feel better if I closed the house down for the day, and held a memorial service for him?" He asked, obviously sarcastically. The whore eyed him irritably. He was about to say 'yes' but then he just stopped himself and sighed.

"You sir, are mean." He finally decided.

"Not mean," Hatori corrected him apathetically. "Just practical."

Kyo shook his head and just pecked the man on the cheek before heading for the door. "This is why you have a whorehouse and aren't married."

"Exactly." He agreed with a nod.

Once outside, Kyo leaned heavily against the wooden door. What the hell was he doing? He didn't need to be this upset. Haru was just a customer at the very least, and a friendly acquaintance at the very most. Shaking his head to clear it of all those thoughts, the whore went out into the main room to do his job.


	6. The Lovers

Disclaimer: Don't own it. This was made for fun, not profit.

**House of the Rising Sun**

**Chapter 6: The Lovers**

Haru didn't explain to his mother and father's questioning looks, when he got home. For that was where he went. He went home to pack, then, he was going to go down to the train station, and buying a ticket out of there. He'd tell them what he was doing once he was packed. Maybe they wouldn't argue, then.  
Well, in all honestly, the packing thing gave them a fairly good idea as to what he was doing. His father had no objections, and his mother was a little sad. But he was an adult. If he wanted to move out, he could. They should just be supportive, and his mother offered him a little money to help him.  
Haru blinked at her a few times, before smiling and giving her a quick hug. "I'm not leaving because of you." He promised her simply. Well, not JUST because of her, anyway.  
"What kind of mother would I be if I just let you leave, Hatsuharu?" she wondered with a small chuckle.  
"Thanks," He shook his head a little, and giving her a quick peck on the cheek. He eyed his father for a moment, before giving him a quick, slightly stiffer, hug, as well. "Bye." He mumbled to both of them.  
"Send a letter or, something." Shigure grinned, and Akito nodded in agreement.  
"Yeah," Haru promised. "When I get settled in--wherever I'm going." It sounded a bit ridiculous, when said out loud, actually. His parents sweat dropped helplessly. But after all the things that had happened recently, they had both come to the conclusion that moving out would be best for their son. "I'll figure it out before I get to the train." Haru muttered, a little defensively. Maybe he'd go to New York, that'd be a good place to start fresh.

Either way, he left. And no matter how sweet and cliché it would be, Kyo did not show up at the train station to stop him. Nope, he just stayed at the House and continued to let complete strangers fuck him whenever they pleased, while the younger man left town.

Well, as it turned out, Haru never made it to New York. He DID make it out of Louisiana, though. However, if he wanted to have a place to sleep, he could only get somewhere in mid-West Virginia. So, that was where he went. However, time passed and late December was drawing close. Christmas, to be exact. He'd managed to avoid going back home for Thanksgiving, but Christmas was another matter. He and his mother had been arguing about it since about half way through November, and there didn't seem to be any excuse Akito would accept that could get him out of it. It wasn't like he couldn't afford the ticket back; he'd gotten a job as soon as he'd been able to find out, there. And it wasn't a problem of getting time off. No, it was just the issue of not WANTING to go back. He was quite aware of how hard it would be to go home, and not see Kyo. He was also aware of how hard seeing him would be, knowing there was no way in hell things would be the same as they had been when he'd left. Akito wasn't accepting no though. It was an amazing miracle, but she also got Shigure to try talking their son into it as well! Neither of them really cared what the problem was, they just wanted there son home! He could have his first Christmas in his new place some other time!

Well, after a long, very hard fight, Haru gave in. He STILL didn't want to piss his mom off. So, he went home on the twentieth. That didn't make him look forward to it, anymore, though. Akito was excited to have won the battle, though, and when her son appeared she hugged him almost quite literally to death.  
"Mother!" He choked out finally. "I can't breathe!"  
"Sorry, dear." His mother chuckled before letting him go. "It was good traveling here?" She wondered, fussing over him, as was her way.  
"It was fine." He confirmed with a small nod. "You two been okay?" Maybe his father hadn't ruined them, yet...  
"Well enough," Akito turned an irritated eye on her husband and elbowed him a little. "He's only snuck out to gamble a few times. That I know of." She added that last part in an angry hiss. Shigure just shrugged and tried looking innocent.  
"You've been to the Rising Sun?" Haru blinked at his father a few times, trying to keep the edge of hope out of his tone. "Or--just other places...?"  
"I went in once. But then your mother found me and I haven't gone back yet." His father sighed dramatically.  
"How long ago was that?" He wondered, quite curious about it. "Was Kyo still there?"  
"About a month after you left." Shigure murmured. "And I don't really know anyone but the host and hostess."  
"Kyo's the only red head working there." Haru informed him quickly. "Did you see a red head?" It was so unlikely that Kyo had quit, it almost hurt a little. But he still wanted to know. It would be easier to avoid him, if he knew where he was working. Or, at least that was what Haru told himself, as to why he wanted to know so badly.  
His mother raised an eyebrow at him, and his father snorted a little. "I wasn't really looking?" So he couldn't really say he'd seen a red head.  
"Oh," Keeping the disappointment out of his tone was harder than the hope. But, why would Shigure have been looking, anyway? It had been stupid to ask.  
"You could always go take a look yourself." Shigure laughed at him. Akito frowned up at her husband, but she did know her son had a friend at that whorehouse.  
"No!" Haru protested quickly. "No, I don't want to see him. I don't think." After all, what good would come out of it? Kyo had regularly, and clearly, informed him that their relationship was purely professional. And, even if it weren't, Kyo wasn't going to stop being a whore for him. Could he really stand to be close to someone who constantly had strange men touching him?  
"All right," His father shrugged.  
"Don't encourage him." Akito finally spoke up, and then she pulled off her son to fuss over how he'd been living on his own.

Now, because that's the kind of irritating bastard he is Shigure had a plan. The next day, he snuck out to the House of the Rising Sun and set about finding this red head and inviting him over to the house for dinner on Christmas.

The whore blinked at him. "Uhm," it was a free meal. Not just a free meal, a GOOD meal. Unlike what he got here. "I'll have to ask my boss?" And he did intended to. Dinner would be good!  
Hatori gave him a slightly amused look, when the request was posed to him.  
"Your choice." He shrugged. He'd get his present eventually. Even if it was the next day. Kyo grinned and kissed him happily before pittering off again to accept the invitation. He did however have to inquire on the formal-ness. Since, he only had that one set of normal clothes, and they weren't that formal. Shigure assured him it would be all right, and told him he'd be back to show him the way to the house when the time came.

Haru was on the couch, reading, when Shigure left to get Kyo, and that was how he was when his father returned. Only difference was, he had a glass of eggnog now, which was promptly spewed back out of his mouth in surprise when he saw Kyo too. Blushing lightly, he trying to clean up at the same time as he spluttered in high irritation at his father. Phrases such as 'what the hell?' and 'I'll fucking kill you for this later!' appeared quite frequently, but he managed to calm down again, once he got over the initial shock of it all. The whore eyed him in amusement. Well that certainly was fun! He hadn't known Haru was home! (He'd know it was his father though.)  
"Nice to see you too, Haru." He chuckled softly at his--friend--if you can call it that. Shigure tactfully retreated from the room.  
"I hadn't expected to see you again. " Haru admitted, frowning a little at him, though his blatant rudeness had retreated slightly. "It was just a bit of a shock."  
"Your dad invited me." The red head grinned. "And from what I can tell, shock was the effect he was going for."  
That stupid--Haru just sighed, and rubbed his temples in irritation.  
"Well," He tried to calm down significantly. "It's been a while how've you been?"  
"Eh," Kyo shrugged helplessly, coming to sit by him and carefully avoiding the soggy eggnog spots. "Same as when you left." Did Haru really expect anything different? Right about now, though, Kyo really wished he could say something different.  
"Oh," Haru nodded, to show he'd heard, and understood, trying to ignore the unpleasant sinking in his stomach. He should have just taking his mother's ranting, and stayed home for the holiday.  
"What about you?" The older man wondered, cocking his head to the side a little. "I think, I must have at the very least missed one of your birthdays." He grinned lecherously; though it was fairly obvious his implications were just a joke. They were in Haru's mother's house right now after all!  
Haru nodded, and tried to relax a bit. "One." He confirmed. "But, you don't know when it actually is, so, two, since I've met you."  
"So how is--wherever you disappeared off to?" The slut pushed for more information. Haru had been gone for a while. He'd forced himself not to think about it at the time, but now Kyo was interested.  
"West Virginia." Haru supplied flatly. "I couldn't afford to go to New York, if I wanted to eat and not live in a cardboard box. So, boring."  
"You could have made it up to New York!" Kyo snorted. "You just would have had to take a leaf out of my book and whore yourself out." Haru frowned a little, and chewed on the inside of his cheek, a bit. How to phrase this politely...?  
"No offense to your lifestyle, but I was trying to avoid that." He decided on, eventually. "I'll make it though, someday."  
"Lifestyle?" The red head repeated, blinking at him, before breaking into breathless giggles. "I--i don't think I've ever heard someone call it that before!"  
"What would you call it?" Haru asked, his eyebrows high. "A profession? Occupation, maybe?"  
"No, no! Lifestyle is fiiiiiine." Kyo smiled. Haru was too polite. Trying to give a nice name to a 'profession' like prostitution. When that's all that really needed to be said right there. Prostitution.  
"Mmhmm," Haru smirked at him, and leaned forward a little, suddenly at a lack for conversation.  
"We got a new security guy." The whore spoke up in a soft tone. "But he's about as reliable as a nervous park squirrel, and not nearly as fun to be saved by."

"Sorry to hear that." Haru replied slowly. Just what was Kyo getting at?

The red head smiled and leaned forward to ruffle his hair. "It's not a big deal. What kind of job did you get off in Virginia?" He made a fluid segue way in subjects.

Haru made a disgusted face, when that subject was brought up. "Desk job." He stated flatly. "Boring as hell, but the pay's okay."

Kyo sweat dropped. "I'd kill to be qualified for a desk job." He blinked and flushed a little after he just let that slip out though. He really hadn't meant to say that.

Haru tactfully ignored the blush, though. "But, it's SO boring," He tried to beat it down a little. "It's not that great, either. Just looking crap up for my boss."

Better than being fucked by your boss and any other stranger who happened to show up.The whore hung his head a little and nodded. "Right," he finally nodded. Then it was just a matter of hiding his annoyance at still being a whore all through the rest of the night. What fun!

"I liked working with you, better." The younger admitted, after a few minutes of awkward silence.

Kyo's smile got all sad like and he hugged the younger. "Aww, that's so sweet." He managed to tease him, even though it was a rather truthful sentiment.

"Well, it's true." He pointed out, hugging him back. And, it was. He'd had a fine time working at the Rising Sun. Before he'd walked in on Kyo being fucked into the desk by Hatori, of course.

"Well, I promise, work was a lot better when you were there too." The slut sighed. He'd enjoyed having a friend who was close to his age.

"Maybe, I picked a bad time to leave, then." Haru muttered, his tone growing more awkward by the minute. He knew that wasn't true. Kyo drew back quickly, and got up under the rather false pretense of going to look out the window.

"It's fine." He shrugged.

"Nnn, I really should have told Hatori myself," He half berated himself, no longer looking at Kyo. "Instead of running away from a problem." He really needed to shut up, now.

"He expected you to leave." The red held informed him. "He didn't really care. Then again, as long as you're not hurting one of us whores, he gets his money, his fucks and his employees aren't late, he's the happiest guy alive." The owner doesn't **really** care about much.

"Glad he had so much faith in me." Haru rolled his eyes a little.

"It's the same for everyone." The older man chuckled softly. "Except me, I don't think he expects me to leave anytime soon." He added that softly under his breath.

"You could, you know." Haru pointed out, before he could stop himself.

Kyo turned a cool eye on him. "Hey, it's Christmas why don't we find something more fun to talk about. I'm sure we can manage?" He suggested helplessly. He really, didn't want to talk about it. Before Haru had shown up in his life, he'd managed not to think about it. Then, when Haru was gone again he managed to shove it to the back of his mind again. But being around the jerk made it so hard to just sit and resign to his fate.

"Sure." Haru agreed with a small shrug. What the hell? Why not? He hadn't intended for it to come up, anyway.

They got off onto something else and then Akito called them in to dinner. Where she proceeded to pump them both on information concerning their lives. She was well aware that Kyo was a whore, but this was Christmas dinner, so she was willing to overlook that little fact right now. She was mostly pestering her son about finding a nice girl anyways.

They made it all the way through dinner without Akito being rude to Kyo and without Kyo making some kind of inappropriate comment. But by the end of it, the red head and the woman were a bit stressed out. So Kyo politely said he needed to be going, thanked them for everything and headed for the door in the hopes of escaping. It usually worked. He could usually run off. But Akito called after him.

"Oh, Hatsuharu dear, walk your friend home please?" The red head may be a whore but she'd feel horrible if the boy got jumped or something, and she knew her son could take care of them both.

Haru blushed a little, at the idea, but just nodded and got up to go with him. This was looking mighty suspicious, to him. All too much like bringing his girlfriend (or, boyfriend, as this case was) home to meet his parents, or walking him home after a date. But, it couldn't be a date. Because, Kyo was a whore and didn't give a damn about him. Not like that, anyway.

"It's all right." Kyo was almost flustering, but then Shigure just ushered them both out the door. The poor slut sighed and just headed off for the House.

Mainly because he knew his mother would throw a fit if he didn't, Haru trailed a few paces behind him, the way there. That had been one of the most stressful evenings of his life.

It was all painful and awkward the whole damn way back, and when the shadow of the House started looming, the red head stopped in his tracks. He didn't want to go back right now.

"You okay?" Haru blinked at him, coming to a halt just behind him. Kyo just backed up the rest of the way into him, not to knock him over or anything like that, but he looked up and back at the taller man.

"Thank you," He told him carefully.

"Not a problem," He assured him. "Sorry that my mom was so standoffish."

"Your mom was fine." The red head giggled lowly. "I'm, just glad you came back for a little while." Even if it hadn't been to see him.

"Yeah, well," He tried to make it sound like nothing. "You risk physical injury for trying to skip out on Christmas dinner, in my family."

Kyo turned and hugged him. "Yeah, well," He repeated, teasing his friend a bit. "I missed you either way."

Haru honestly started to say 'I missed you too', and just move on. The words were actually on his tongue, but they never came out.

"Why?" He asked, instead.

"Because I'm actually almost close to you." The slut struggled to explain.

"That's not what I meant." Haru protested a little. "Well, not ALL I meant, anyway."

"OH? What else am I explaining to you?" The red head wondered dryly.

"Well it's just missing generally means caring, and--" He trailed off, not really sure how to finish that. How could Kyo care about him, when the last time he'd seen him, he'd just finished fucking Hatori? When he was probably going to go inside, and do it again, right now? Kyo gave him a sad look before pulling him down to kiss and silence him. At the moment it was better than saying he did care, or telling Haru to shut up.

Haru just blinked helplessly at him, once the kiss broke. This didn't make any sense. None. At all.  
"But--why...?" He stammered, once he'd found his voice again. If Kyo really felt that way, why had he been so supportive about him leaving?  
"Because I care?" The red head suggested.  
"That's not what I meant." Haru shook his head. "I meant why do you care? Why me?" Why not any of the other hundreds of guys he'd done?  
"I really need a reason?" Kyo looked up at him oddly. "I can't just care, just because?"  
"I'm just confused," He confessed softly. "I think."  
The whore paled slightly, but you couldn't really tell in the dark. He really should have thought a bit more before kissing Haru. He was just going to go back to his home soon.  
"Sorry about that,"  
"Not your fault," Haru shook his head. "It's just that last time I saw you," He trailed off, not really sure if he wanted to finish that or not.  
"Last time you saw me, I---?" Kyo prompted.  
"You had just finished doing Hatori." Haru finished, flushing darkly. "Or, being done, I guess. That's not the point, though." He pulled away from Kyo, and ran a hand through his hair, nervously. "I don't know why it was so weird--well, yes I do, but,"  
The older man sighed. Oh, he got it now. "Hmm," he murmured his understanding. He should probably head back to the House then. That was where the whore belonged.  
"I guess, I'm being stupid, though." He continued, not looking at Kyo, so he didn't see the recognition on his face. "I mean, it was a long time ago, right? I should just get over it."  
"No, it's all right. You can't get over it. I'm still a whore.." Kyo sweat dropped. He may not want to be, but that didn't change the facts.  
Haru blinked up at him in bewilderment. "It's not that?" He wondered, raising an eyebrow. "That wasn't what I meant--" They seemed to be having a communication problem. "I just meant, that it's weird to see your cru--" He quickly cut himself off, and rerouted that sentence. "Er—friend--messing with your boss."  
"Ah yeah, well, that's still because I'm a whore." Kyo sighed.

"I know that." Haru all but growled in slight frustration. "But I don't care—"

The red head smiled sadly "You should go home now. Your mother probably wants to see you, and it's Christmas." He reminded. This conversation hadn't helped ease his heartthrob; it'd actually made it worse. But he just didn't see what he needed to. Haru was apparently just a friend, and Kyo was just going to be a whore to everyone else.  
"I never did give you your present." He stated quickly, his blush fading a little, but not much. "If I have yet to make a complete ass of myself, and you actually want it."  
"It's okay, " The whore chuckled softly.  
"It's okay, as in you don't want it, or, it's okay, as in I'm not yet categorized as an ass?"  
"You're not an ass just yet."  
"Well, good." He nodded slowly. "Uh, I wasn't really expecting to see you, so I didn't buy anything, but--" He paused, before just going for it. "It might be stupid, and presumptuous, but, if you want it, I can give you a night in a bed, that you're not being paid to be in, and a train ticket—somewhere?" He was being stupid again, he knew it. Kyo was a whore, and he couldn't understand why he would ever stop, to be with him. But, he'd never know unless he asked.  
"Really?" Kyo blinked at him.  
"Yeah," He nodded, still blushing a little, though, it had calmed considerably. "If you want it." He repeated, and he soon found himself with a very excited slut kissing him again. Kyo hugged the younger man tightly and that was apparently his way of saying thank you. "You like it, then?" He snorted with amusement, once that kiss broke.  
"Yeah," The red head nodded. He couldn't take being a whore any longer. Not when he wanted a chance to be with Haru.  
"Well, good." He nodded, letting his hand fall down too grasp Kyo's. "Come on, then." The shorter man smiled softly and they headed back, away from the whorehouse. Maybe, Haru's mother won't kill him.

No, no killing. But she wasn't impressed that he had brought a real whore home with him this time.  
"Be nice, or I'm skipping Thanksgiving, Christmas, AND Easter next year." Haru hissed simply to her, before ushering Kyo up toward his room, to show him where it was. He'd promised Kyo a bed, and they didn't have a guest room. That meant Kyo got HIS bed, which, really, was just fine with him. Shigure just smirked and tried to calm down his wife, while Kyo allowed himself to be ushered and tried to convince Haru not to invoke his mother's wrath. "Threats are usually more effective." Haru murmured in reply to Kyo's attempts, as he opened his bedroom door, to let him in. The red head glanced back at him. It was still Akito's house though! Shouldn't they be polite? Or something? He just sweat dropped and entered the room. It was a nice room! Nicer than at the House. It'd be a good change to be here rather than there. "Ah, I can probably get to the station as early as tomorrow, if you want the rest of your present then." Haru told Kyo, sitting down in a chair, and gesturing for the bed, to show Kyo he could sit there. "Just pick where you want to go."  
Kyo flushed a little as he sat down. "Haru, I could pay for my own train ticket." He sighed. "I don't exactly have anywhere else to go, and not much else I can do though."  
"Hey, it's part of your present." He snorted. "So, you won't be paying for it." He could think of one place Kyo could go, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to ask.  
"I don't know." The red head admitted. "This is all very nice. But there isn't much out there for someone with limited education and has been a prostitute since sixteen." He had to sweat drop a little. He couldn't even ask to go with Haru, because he knew his scrawny ass would be total dead weight on his bills.  
Haru frowned a little, to that, and was silent for a few minutes. "You could come with me...?" He offered finally. There really wasn't much else he could do, or offer, or say.  
"I could." Kyo nodded with a smirk. "You must be like your mom, picking out a useless money waster. "  
"There aren't any casinos in the town I'm in." He'd made sure of that, before he'd moved in. "I don't think I have to worry much."  
Kyo got up and carefully placed himself in Haru's lap. "I can really go with you?" He wondered. He felt ridiculous, but he's never had the greatest social relations and wasn't sure if this could be happening.  
"If you want to." He nodded leaning back against his chair a bit.  
The uh--ex-slut? Kissed his cheek gratefully. "I do." he confirmed. He'd just find a job when he got there. He should have enough money from working at the House to get an apartment of his own or something.  
"Kyo," He snorted, a bit helplessly. "I'm asking you to move in, not marry me." No, they wouldn't be able to do that in West Virginia. They'd have to flee to Canada to do that.  
"That was a very bad joke." Kyo eyed him dryly.  
"Bad senses of humor run in the family?" He offered with a small shrug.  
"Bad, very, very bad." Kyo confirmed.  
"You can stop teasing me ANY time now."  
"No." The red head chuckled. "I think not. You're fun to tease." He still hadn't forgotten how funny it was when Haru had first paid him to do him. That was really funny.  
"Hush, okay?" He sighed, a little wearily, but the slight twitch of a small on his lips betrayed him.


End file.
